Advances in wireless telecommunications are rapidly increasing the use cellular phones to handle communication of media and data between users and providers. Typically, cellular phones have connected to mobile networks, such as a wireless wide area network (WWAN) employing a wireless connection (e.g. 2G/3G/3.5G/4G). Further advances in technology have enabled cellular phones to connect to multiple networks, for example, WiFi (wireless fidelity) networks and/or Bluetooth® networks.
Typically, WiFi enabled cellular phones can connect to a cellular network or a WiFi network when the cellular phone is in the coverage area of the respective network. By employing these WiFi enabled cellular phones, users can leverage a wireless access points to access the Internet, an intranet and/or enterprise, and download information. WiFi access points are becoming increasingly common and have a significantly higher data rate than the data part of cellular wireless technologies (e.g. GSM, CDMA, etc.) supported by mobile carriers. Further, WiFi enabled cellular phones can employ VoIP when connected to a WiFi network, to enable users to utilize the Internet to make phone calls, potentially saving the users' money and/or mobile minutes. Thus, users can employ a dual-mode (or multi-mode) handset, such as a WiFi enabled cellular phone, utilize WiFi communication when in WiFi network and utilize cellular communication when a WiFi network is not available.
Media Content is a significant and growing portion of wireless network traffic. Content owners/aggregators choose the largest “operator independent” distributors because of reach and simplicity of interface. Startups leverage smart edge devices to build peer to peer CDNs (Content delivery networks) that lack information to efficiently employ a network infrastructure. However, the aforementioned approaches can be costly and can introduce security and privacy issues.